1. Field of the Invention
A mechanism for cutting and clinching the leads of electrical components inserted into the openings in printed circuit boards, the mechanism including a drive means for the cut and clinch heads to enable variable spaced leads of the components to be cut and clinched.
2. Statement as to Prior Art
In the assembly of electrical components to printed circuit boards, for a given board circuit, a plurality of components must be applied that have different dimensions and thus different spacings between the leads of the components. The component leads are either manually or automatically inserted into preselected holes in the board. After the leads are inserted into the board, a cutting and clinching unit positioned below the board will cut off the excess lead and bend or form (clinch) the remaining lead to securely attach the component to the board. After all the necessary components have been assembled to the board, the entire assembly will go through a wave solder process to complete the board assembly.
This assembly process can be semi-automatic by the operator having components supplied in a preselected sequence through a programed supply source such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,393. With the board fixed to a station available to the operator, the preselected component is inserted into the board at a location identified to the operator and a cut-clinch unit, programed to cut and clinch the preselected component, is activated by the operator to move into position and cut and clinch the component leads to temporarily attach the component to the board. Examples of such cut-clinch units are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,288,914 and 4,292,727. Additionally, such cut-clinch units are moved toward and away from the board and can rotate with respect to the board since the angular disposition of the components inserted into the board vary with respect to one another. An example of this type of unit is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,153,082.
The above types of cut-clinch units, however, have not been designed so that the cut-clinch mechanism can automatically accommodate components having variable spaced leads and perform the cut-clinch function on incrementally variable spaced leads in response to a programed control.